Identifying the Proactive Actions of Newly Hired Engineers During the Socialization Period

Organizational socialization is the process through which new employees learn and adapt to their new roles in organizations. However, new employees' proactive actions, in the context of engineering organizations, are not well explored. This study examines the actions newly hired engineers take during organizational socialization and identifies the actions from newly hired engineers working in the U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) industry. By following Morrison's framework of new employees' primary tasks in socialization, we present the proactive actions taken by 10 participants. Specifically, we identified 13 actions and classified them into four categories: Relationship Developing, Knowledge Acquiring, Real Task Training, and Positive Attitude Cultivating. This study expands the research literature as it 1) explores new employees' proactive actions in the context of engineering organizations, 2) discusses and classifies the specific actions newly hired engineers proactively take during socialization, and 3) reveals how the identified actions in each category function across multiple domains. The study can provide an example of conducting qualitative research on new employees' proactivity for engineering education researchers; help engineering educators prepare students entering the A&D industry; inform managers of the newly hired engineers' insights on organizational socialization, and inform senior engineering students the actions they may need to do in the socialization period.